Trump removes 95 country-product pairs from GSP

Date: Thursday, November 1, 2018Source: American Shipper

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the termination of duty-free treatment — effective Thursday — under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for several imported products in connection with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s 2017-18 GSP review.

Trump is removing 95 product-country combinations from GSP eligibility, according to his Tuesday proclamation.

Included in that quantity is a product-country pair removal that Turkey requested from USTR: HTS 2009.89.60 (cherry juice, tart and not tart).

The agency also denied a petition to remove eligibility for HTS 3920.51.50 (nonadhesive plates, sheets, film, foil and strip, noncellular, not combined with other materials, of polymethyl methacrylate, not flexible) from Indonesia and Thailand, according to the results of USTR’s 2017-18 GSP eligibility review.

Further, USTR is adding HTS 2841.90.20 (ammonium perrhenate) to the list of products eligible to receive preferential treatment when imported from Kazakhstan, according to the proclamation.

The waivers allow GSP eligibility to continue for these product-country pairs even though they surpassed yearly import limits.

USTR also denied two petitions for CNL waivers: HTS 3301.13.00 (essential oils of lemon) from Argentina and HTS 6802.99.00 (monumental or building stone and arts, thereof, not elsewhere specified or included, further worked than simply cut/sawn, not elsewhere specified or included) from Brazil, according to the results of USTR’s GSP review.

Further, USTR denied petitions to newly add nine products to the list of products eligible to receive GSP benefits, according to the results of the review.